Week 10 of This Presidency

Week 10 at the White House:

--Launched the American Jobs Plan! --20m Syringes in 7 days: a record! --11 judicial noms w/in 1st 100 days: most ever! --Offshore Wind Plan: powering 10m homes by 2030! --900K new jobs in March: first admin Heavy plus signover 1m jobs in first two months! --Ronald Klain @WHCOS

BREAKING: US Senate Just Passed Biden 's COVID Relief Plan!!!

Fantastic!! It just broke! Our US Senate just passed President Biden's COVID relief plan for Americans and America 50-49!! Fantastic!! Yahooooo!!

The only thing better than this is that NOT ONE Republican voted for it. America, you're getting help. And Republicans didn't support it in any way! Have a great day and weekend!!!

Quote of the Day -- Conservatives and Coronavirus Edition

"Mask refusers appeal to liberty. But even staunch libertarians know that checking the spread of disease is a legitimate government function. The hostility to masks isn't libertarian. It's nihilistic. Nihilism has come to characterize a significant part of today's 'conservatism.'" --Bill Kristol @BillKristol

Missouri Is Celebrating Its COVID Rollout

This is stunning to me. It was only a few days ago that Jackson County, finally, finally flipped from getting the vaccine for Phase 1B, Tier 1 for "First Responders, Emergency Services and Public Health Infrastructure" to now, Phase 1B, Tier 2--"High Risk Individuals (18-64) and Individuals 65>." Whoop-tee-doo. Now, check out this little celebration going on today on social media.

On March 15--TWO WEEKS FROM NOW, of course--we'll switch to "Criical Infrastructure" citizens of Missouri. Just that. That's all. And keep in mind, there are still FIVE, count them, 5 more levels until the get down to all the rest of us average citizens out here in the state. How does this remotely make sense? How is this not insane? How is this not the most pitifully slow rollout of a very needed vaccine the world has needed in the last more than 100 years? Thanks, Mr. Trump! Thanks, Republicans! Y'all are just terrific. Really.

Republicans in Topeka Continue to Weaken Kansas

From Davis Hammet at Loud Light. Listen and weep, Kansans.

Kansas Senator Mark Steffen is a real piece of work, this brief video makes clear. He and his efforts are nothing if not tunning. I say again, no other source in the area, no other news source, covers the statehouse in Topeka more or better than Mr. Hammet. No one.If you don't watch and keep up with him already and you live in Kansas, you would do well to do so. Just saying.

Claire McCaskill Asks a Great Question This Morning

Yes, now former Senator Claire McCaskill asks an excellent question and makes a great challenge to local, regional and state media.

Claire McCaskill @clairecmc "Let me say it again. 24 MASS VACCINATION SITES OVER THE NEXT WEEK. ONLY 1!!!! in Jackson County, St Louis County, St Louis City and Boone County. COMBINED! This is a scandal. Where are our journalists? Where are our elected officials? @GovParsonMO" This was her response to this post on Twitter. Mo Health & Sr Srvcs @HealthyLivingMo · Feb 23 Mass vaccination events for this week have been announced. Find more at: https://covidvaccine.mo.gov/events/ #MOStopsCOVID | #ShowMeStrong Again, excellent question. We, here in Jackson County, Kansas City, only just came off Phase 1B, tier 1 in the last few days for these vaccinations which are for 1st responders, emergency services and public heath infastructure citizens only. Now, we're finally but only on high risk individuals 18-64 and individuals, citizens 65 and over. We only just got there very recently, in the last few days. So... Local news stations? KCPT? KCUR? KCTV5? KMBC? WDAF? Fox 4? We have a story for you. And we need to hear about this and badly.For that matter, Governor Parson? Do you have answers for us? Information? Solutions? Any good news? Anything encouraging?

Question for Governor Parson and the Jackson County Health Department

 

WHY ARE WE STILL IN PHASE 1B, TIER 1 IN JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI, for only first responders, emergency services & public health infrastructure? 

We've been there for WEEKS. 

Are we EVER going to get the vaccine????

In fairness, an answer today, this morning, from the Jackson County Health Department:

Thanks for your email. For the last several weeks the state has not sent us vaccines, so we have not been able to offer appointment times for 1^st doses in your tier. We hope to be able to offer appointments again in the next few weeks. In the meantime if you have a primary care provider you can reach out to them and the hospital they are affiliated with. They may be able to get you an appointment at the hospital before we have times available. You can also reach out to the State of Missouri Vaccine Navigators at 1-877-435-8411 or https://covidvaccine.mo.gov/navigator to get more information on various organizations receiving vaccine.

So we wait. We continue to wait. And hope.

Humanity Needs to All Start Working Together

Nothing shows any better how humanity needs to start and then keep working together for all our benefit than this killing, international pandemic, worst of the last more than 100 years.  Coincidentally, I wrote this on social media, again, a week ago. Also coincidentally, an article in The Atlantic rather makes this same point now.

Credit: Getty Images

Bhutan Is the World's Unlikeliest Pandemic Success Story

On january 7, a 34-year-old man who had been admitted to a hospital in Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu, with preexisting liver and kidney problems died of COVID-19. His was the country’s first death from the coronavirus. Not the first death that day, that week, or that month: the very first coronavirus death since the pandemic began.

How is this possible? Since the novel coronavirus was first identified more than a year ago, health systems in rich and poor countries have approached collapse, economies worldwide have been devastated, millions of lives have been lost. How has Bhutan—a tiny, poor nation best known for its guiding policy of Gross National Happiness, which balances economic development with environmental conservation and cultural values—managed such a feat? And what can we in the United States, which has so tragically mismanaged the crisis, learn from its success?

In fact, what can the U.S. and other wealthy countries learn from the array of resource-starved counterparts that have better weathered the coronavirus pandemic, even if those nations haven’t achieved Bhutan’s impressive statistics? Countries such as Vietnam, which has so far logged only 35 deaths, Rwanda, with 226, Senegal, with 700, and plenty of others have negotiated the crisis far more smoothly than have Europe and North America.

These nations offer plenty of lessons, from the importance of attentive leadership, the need to ensure that people have enough provisions and financial means to follow public-health guidance, and the shared understanding that individuals and communities must sacrifice to protect the well-being of all: elements that have been sorely lacking in the U.S.

America has “the world’s best medical-rescue system—we have unbelievable ICUs,” Asaf Bitton, executive director of Ariadne Labs, a Boston-based center for health-systems innovation, told me. But, he said, we have neglected a public-health focus on prevention, which socially cohesive low- and middle-income countries have no choice but to adopt, because a runaway epidemic would quickly overwhelm them.

“People say the COVID disaster in America has been about a denial of science. But what we couldn’t agree on is the social compact we would need to make painful choices together in unity, for the collective good,” Bitton added. “I don’t know whether, right now in the U.S., we can have easy or effective conversations about a common good. But we need to start.”

But then, beyond this killing pandemic? Other things we need to all come together to work on and against.

Climate change. Global warming.  Pollution.

What Humanity Must Do to Prevent Catastrophic Climate

More.

Poverty.   Yes, poverty. Everyone, the world over, needs to recognize that poverty is a human construct.

Poverty is a social construct

3 Ways Humans Create Poverty

Poverty as a Social Problem its Causes and Solutions

And we need to start soon.

Now.

Bring On the New Year!!

 

2021 will have to be an improvement, a big improvement.

We're going to lose Donald Trump as President and a killing, international pandemic, both.

Happy new year, indeed!!

May it be a happy, healthy, prosperous one for us all!!

The Republican Party Insanity Today, Christmas Eve, on COVID Assistance

So here it is. Christmas Eve. Here we are. At long last. And now, this is where we all are with this Republican Party Congress, Republican Party President and the possibility of COVID assistance.

House Republicans To Block $2,000 Stimulus Checks On Christmas Eve

So Congress, at long last, came up with a bill they could all agree one, months in the making, for COVID pandemic assistance to and for America and Americans. After all that negotiating, this Republican Party President Trump concludes they assistance should be $2000, not the paltry $600 at the last minute or he'll veto it all. Yahoo! Right?

Except this is where we are now. On Christmas Eve. The Republicans in Congress are all going to collectively be Scrooges. They say they are voting it all down. It's their President but they want no part of it.

So what, pray tell, do these Republicans in Congress do now with their President? Go to the White House and implore him to see it, to see things their way? If that's even possible?

Merry Christmas indeed, America. 

Happy holidays?

Happy new year?

More:

Trump gives Congress chaos for Christmas, with aid to millions up in the air

Update. Breaking in the last two hours:

GOP senator warns $2K checks can't pass, urges Trump to sign COVID deal

It seems our own Missouri Senator Roy Blunt did the right thing and reached out to the President.

Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.) a member of the GOP leadership, warned Thursday that President Trump's demand for $2000 stimulus checks can't pass the Senate and urged him to sign a massive year-end agreement.

Some semblance of sanity seems to be coming about, anyway. It's nice that it's coming from our own Senator and state.

Sidney Powell: Senior Aides Are Blocking Trump From Giving Me White House…

Bill Barr's Quote APresidential Pardons Resurfaces on His Last Day…

GOP senator warns $2K checks can't pass, urges Trump to sign COVID dea

"Twas a Month Before Christmas--- 2020 Pandemic Edition

T'was a month before Christmas,

And all through the town,

People wore masks,

That covered their frown.

The frown had begun

Way back in the Spring,

When a global pandemic

Changed everything.

They called it corona,

But unlike the beer,

It didn’t bring good times,

It didn’t bring cheer.

Contagious and deadly,

This virus spread fast,

Like a wildfire that starts

When fueled by gas.

Airplanes were grounded,

Travel was banned.

Borders were closed

Across air, sea and land.

As the world entered lockdown

To flatten the curve,

The economy halted,

And folks lost their verve.

From March to July

We rode the first wave,

People stayed home,

They tried to behave.

When summer emerged

The lockdown was lifted.

But away from caution,

Many folks drifted.

Now it’s November

And cases are spiking,

Wave two has arrived,

Much to our disliking.

Frontline workers,

Doctors and nurses,

Try to save people,

From riding in hearses.

This virus is awful,

This COVID-19.

There isn’t a cure.

There is no vaccine.

It’s true that this year

Has had sadness a plenty,

We’ll never forget

The year 2020.

And just ‘round the corner -

The holiday season,

But why be merry?

Is there even one reason?

To decorate the house

And put up the tree,

When no one will see it,

No one but me.

But outside my window

The snow gently falls,

And I think to myself,

Let’s deck the halls!

So, I gather the ribbon,

The garland and bows,

As I play those old carols,

My happiness grows.

Christmas is not cancelled

And neither is hope.

If we lean on each other,

I know we can cope.

--Anonymous

Happy holidays, everyone.

God help us all.

An Open Letter, a Plea, Really, to Missouri's Senator Josh Hawley

From Republican Party's Missouri Senator Josh Hawley and his Facebook page today. He posted it at about 1:30 pm. He's concerned about---China

What a year for #china - Beijing inflicted #COVID19 on the world and continues to violate its treaty obligations & destroy the liberties of its people, including this latest crackdown in #HongKong

 With this article from The New York Times

Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow Are Sentenced to Prison Over Hong Kong Protest

To which, I respond...

China. 

More on China from this guy. 

Unbelievable. 

Have you heard, do you know there is the worst, most deadly, killing international pandemic in the last more than 100 years going on just now, presently, this year, Senator? Do you know we all still need PPE out here? And testing? And that millions, literally millions of Americans are going hungry presently due to this pandemic? And that literally millions of Americans are going into winter facing eviction from their homes because of the pandemic? Would you DO SOMETHING about these situations, Senator Hawley, instead of harping about China, for pity's sake? Please?

CDC director: Winter could be 'most difficult time in the public health history of this nation'

Because we'll beg. I'll beg. Honest I will. Please.

Help.

The USA.

The Dangerous Place We Stand Today---Thanks, Mr. President

It has been 29 days since our presidential election in which this sitting President lost. So, thanks, Mr. President and thanks to all enabling members of your Republican Party. Here's a snapshot of just where we stand now. 

Donald Trump is still, still, to this day, December 2, 2020, not recognizing our vote, our votes, our election or Democracy. He has still, still, to this minute, not conceded the election to Joe Biden.

'It has to stop' -GA election official condemns Trump

A GOP, Republican party election official has gone public, asking this also Republican Party President Trump to stop threatening people in Georgia as it's promoting and prompting death threats in that state over this election.

Not done there.

Trump discussed pre-emptive pardons for family

He's actually discussed preemptively pardoning his 3 children as well as his son in law. And they haven't even been accused of any crimes yet, of course.

Speaking of pardons. We're not done there.

DOJ investigating alleged 'bribery-for-pardon scheme'

Check that out. Trump's own, our own Department of Justice is actually investigating Trump himself for a possibly bribery for pardon scheme. It doesn't get any crazier, wilder or more illegal than this man Trump or his administration.

Meanwhile, we have this. In these 29 days, this is what has taken place regarding the elction.

• Media: No evidence of fraud.
• Politicians: No evidence of fraud.
• Legal experts: No evidence of fraud.
• Election officials: No evidence of fraud.
• Cybersecurity officials: No evidence of fraud.
• Dept of Homeland Security: No evidence.
• Trump's own Attorney General William Barr: No evidence of fraud.
• Random person on Twitter and Facebook: The truth will come out

--

Darius Hall III

Not done there, of course...

Trump Accuses William Barr And The FBI Of Election Fraud

This is just how desperate he's now gotten. He's now even calling his own, our own FBI and Attorney General of election fraud. Insane. More insanity. It's like his calling anyone else corrupt or "crooked." It's ironic, sure, but it's hypocrisy at its most outrageous and most wrong.

Dangerously, honestly, this is what Trump is possibly planning for inauguration day, instead of, oh, I don't know, being a mature, responsible, thinking adult for the first time in his life and actually attending that inauguration.

Trump May Hold Rally During Biden’s Inauguration

This may well be the most dangerous, divisive thing he's done yet if he goes through with it. Getting his followers all riled up across town, there in Washington, as well as across the nation while President elect Joe Biden is sworn in as actual President.

And even if he doesn't have the rally--so hoping--there is every indication he's going to continue to be, remain, small and petty.

Trump to boycott Biden’s inauguration and won’t even invite him for White House visit - report

I can't even believe all I read any longer it's so insane, so bizarre, so incredible what's happening, what's happened and what this nightmare of a President--certainly no leader--has gotten away with, to date, and is getting away with.

Trump Organization, Kushner Companies benefited from pandemic relief loans: report

Coincidentally, this, the pandemic is still going on, of course.

CDC director: winter could be 'most difficult time in public health history'

Not that we'll hear anything about it coming out of THIS White House. The Boston Globe said it right, said it correctly.

A leaderless nation adrift in a crisis

And CNN.

A leaderless America slips deep into a grim pandemic winter

Come on, December 14...

Why December 14 Is The Most Important Election Day

Trump’s Election Attack Ends December 14—Whether He Knows It or Not

And January 20, too, naturally.

God help us all get there, quietly and safely.

Very Welcome Contrast in Presidents

 

Yeah. That. All that. And thought and thoughtfulness and intelligence and compassion.

And more.

#Throwthebumout 

Kansas City COViD Roundup

 Here you go, Kansas City! A COVID roundup. First up, Torey Southwick advises us!

With KC beds sparse, rural hospitals in Kansas, Missouri face new COVID ‘tidal wave’

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum temporarily closes after staff test positive for COVID-19

A lost generation? Educators and students worry online classes leave too many behind

KC metro sees dip in new coronavirus cases as testing slows over Thanksgiving holiday

Meanwhile, this, nationally.

16 States Log Record-High Average COVID-19 Cases Since Thanksgiving

Insane.

Here's a statewide assessment.

Examining COVID-19 Cases In Hard-Hit Wisconsin, Missouri 

The region.

‘We’re drowning’: COVID cases flood hospitals in America’s heartland

And then, hope.

Covid: First Americans 'could get vaccine in December

Be careful out there, folks. Stay safe. Mask up, for sure.

Happy Thanksgiving

 A great and very deserving list.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Quote of the Day -- Thanksgiving, Republican Party Edition

A staggering one in EIGHT Americans reported they sometimes or often didn’t have enough food to eat in the past week. That’s nearly 26 million Americans who are going hungry the week of Thanksgiving. And a full quarter of out-of-work Americans with children at home reported not having enough food to eat. The numbers are worse for Black households than for white ones: 22 percent of Black households reported going hungry in the past week, over 2.5 times the rate for white households. Food banks are overwhelmed trying to meet the new surge in demand: “We'll be hard pressed to keep up. We’re just bracing for the worst,” said the CEO of Feeding Texas.

Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell adjourned the Senate last week and let them skip town early for Thanksgiving. He and his do nothing Senate Republicans get to go home to their families and sit down to a table bursting with food, while 26 million of their fellow Americans starve. As long as their rich friends are happy now that the stock market is soaring, they couldn’t be bothered to serve their constituents. It’s one of the grossest abdications of duty I’ve ever seen. There are no words to truly describe Mitch McConnell’s moral bankruptcy.

--Robert Reich

Thanks, Senator McConnell

Thanks, Republicans.

Links:

Robert Reich

Robert Reich - Wikipedia

Happy Thanksgiving, America!

One thing, anyway, we Americans did right, that we do right.

"There is one day that is ours. 

Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American."

--O. Henry 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Enjoy.

Biden says staff has spoken with Fauci: 'He's been very, very helpful'

Fauci says he would 'absolutely' serve on a Biden coronavirus task force

A reason to give thanks: 

Help with COVID-19 is on the way

Biden to receive first daily presidential briefing on Monday

Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Is Cheaper than Pfizer’s and Moderna’s and Doesn’t Require Supercold Temperature

Have a great day and weekend and by all means, stay safe out there.

Question of the Day -- State of America Edition

Trump is golfing, the Senate is on vacation, there is no COVID relief, food lines stretch for miles, 40,000,000 Americans face eviction, and Americans are dying in droves.

Is this what they mean by American exceptionalism?

--Professor Robert Reich

Links:

Robert Reich

Robert Reich - Wikipedia

 

This Republican Party President--and What He's Not Doing

 So thi is where we stand now with this Republican Party President. He's fighting, still fighting to ignore our vote, our votes, our election and to deny our Democracy. But he's also doing this now, today.

Trump skipped a coronavirus meeting with G20 leaders to play golf

It's unreal.  I mean it is literally unreal. This guy keeps getting away with so much.

This, then, is what it boils down to now. This is what needs to happen.

Republican leaders swore an oath to defend the Constitution. That means telling Trump it’s over.

So how about it, Republicans? We're in the worst, most killing, deadly international pandemic in the last more than 100 years and this man, this president Trump of yours is clearly not doing his job. Worse, far worse, he's trying to ignore or deny our election.

We've had enough. Go. Talk to him. Tell him. It's over. We're done. We have to move on. For the nation's security, for our national security, we have to get this done. He's got to go. For once in his life, he has to be a mature, responsible adult and face the music, face this responsibility and reality.